HARVESTING TANBARK 



465 



to dry and curl up. Trees from 3 inches and up in diameter 

 are also peeled. It is customary to cut one or two coils from 

 standing poles from 3 to 8 inches in diameter. This is called 

 "jayhawking" and is very wasteful because the yield per tree 

 is low and good bark which cannot be reached is often left on 

 the upper portion of the tree. On other trees the bark is 

 removed up to the large limbs only. An average workman 

 will peel from one to one and one-half cords of bark daily, 

 and an expert on big timber may occasionally peel four or five 

 cords. 



In three weeks the bark is dry enough to haul. It is then 

 bunched by hand in small piles to which narrow sled roads are 

 cut, and down these the bark is sledded to wagon roads and 

 again piled. It is then hauled to market or railroad on wagons 

 which carry from three to four cords each. In rough places the 

 bark is sometimes transported to the roads on mules. From 

 250 to 400 pounds of bark are loaded on a pack saddle and 

 carried by one animal. After the bark has been hauled to the 

 wagon roads, men are sent through the forest to collect and 

 sack the chips. These come chiefly from the base of the tree 

 and are richer in tannin than the bark from any other part of 

 the bole. 



The average yield of bark is from one and one-fourth to two 

 cords per acre, with a maximum of eight cords. 



AMOUNT OF TANBARK ON TANBARK OAK TREES OF 

 DIFFERENT SIZES ^ 



1 From the California Tan Bark Oak, by Willis Linn Jepson and H. S. Betts. Bulletin 75, U. S. 

 Forest Service, p. lo. 



